Mr. Alan Todd:

Yes. The follow-up services are not as good as they ought to be, although others would argue differently. I will relate an anecdote which outlines our frustration in that regard. We were criticised by a recent report of the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland regarding a person who tragically ended his or her life by jumping into the river in Belfast. Shortcomings of ours relating to the incident were identified and we have accepted the report and recommendations. However, we are a little uncomfortable that that was the third police interaction with the individual over a three-day period. On the first occasion, police took the individual off the street and to hospital for medical care. The person was released, again encountered by the police and taken back to hospital for further medical care but was again released. The person then tragically took his own life. Our follow-up in that incident was not good. However, operational officers would say that if the system worked better, such things would not happen. Our frustration does not stem from being criticised but, rather, that in spite of our best efforts and interventions and taking the person to a place of care, he ultimately took his own life. We are not frustrated that we were criticised - that comes our way when we do not get it right.